Scientists and journalists have a couple of things in common — at least that’s what I was told all those years ago.

Both require the ability to ask the right question. And both have to sell the same idea at least three times to make a living.

Yesterday, Bob Brackett, senior vice president and chief science and regulatory affairs officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, wrote in the Denver Post that "no other country in the world can claim a safer food supply than the United States."

Except that a couple of Canadian researchers at the University of Regina have done just that, issuing a report last week which purports to rank 17 industrialized countries.

The problem is, based on what is publicly available, it’s impossible to tell how countries were ranked on various scores.

For example, the report says,

"Canada would be considered as one of the world’s leading countries in relation to consumer affairs in food safety. In terms of incidences of reported illness by food-borne pathogens, Canada is (in) the normal range since it has the incidence between 5,000 and 15,000 per 100,000 persons. Even if Canada has more incidences, it has a decreasing trend of late, which means that all levels of the government had begun to control the situation."

Based on a population of just over 33 million, that means 1.65 — 4.95 million reported illnesses by foodborne pathogens, I’m assuming per year. Nowhere near that many cases of foodborne illness are actually reported. And the best guess on the actual incidence of foodborne illness in Canada is 11-13 million cases per year, slightly higher that the World Health Organization’s estimate of 30 per cent of citizens in developed countries getting sick from the food and water they consume each year.

The report authors also claim,

"Canada was also rated as a ‘progressive’ country based on its food safety education programs for consumers. Unlike other countries, the level of cooperation among the different levels of government in the country is significant and most programs target all segments of the population."

Apparently, no effort was made to assess whether such information was accurate.

Canada finished fifth, and the U.S. came in seventh. The United Kingdom had the highest ranking of the 17 countries studied. Make mine piping hot.

Who has the safest food in the world? Wrong question.